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To pick a top ten would be tricky, I’m not sure I could do it but here are some books which I have truly enjoyed reading this year:

The Witches of the Glass Castle by Gabriella Lepore.

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham.

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.

City of Heavenly Fire (TMI) by Cassandra Clare.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings.

When I joined #bookstagram back in April/May time I had no idea that I would ever start a book blog but at the end of August that is exactly what I did do. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for being so kind and supportive as I find my way in the book-blogging-universe. Finding my fellow bookworms and fangirls has helped me through some tough times this year and has been such fun. Sharing book recommendations and reviews with you is easily my favourite thing to do after reading.

I am really looking forward to the bookish wonders of 2015. I’m just a girl with a bag (and bookshelves and boxes) full of books reading her way through a thousand lives.

“Fifty years ago a girl disappeared from her home in Norway. She ran after a lamb and found herself travelling right across Europe to Palestine, and back through 2000 years to meet the Holy Family in Bethlehem. There she met angels, shepherds, wise men and other biblical characters who joined her on her pilgrimage; and she heard of many of the things that happened in the world in the last 2000 years.

In present-day Norway, a boy acquires a strange old Advent calendar. Hidden in each of the windows is a tiny piece of paper. Little by little these pieces unfold the girl’s story and as we learn what happened to her, another story is revealed – that of the strange old man who made the calendar.”

“A young girl has been murdered, her body displayed on the front lawn of her university campus. The killing is vicious – and terrifyingly familiar. Someone is copying the methods of one of the country’s most infamous serial killers: Dean’s father.
Back at the Naturals HQ, Cassie, Dean, Michael, Lia and Sloane are dealing with a new FBI agent – and Agent Sterling is determined to keep them out of trouble. But Dean knows too much about his father’s crimes not to get involved, and his fellow Naturals won’t let him face this alone.
But as the bodies mount up, the Naturals find themselves in a deadly dangerous race against time…”

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Since reading the first book in this series earlier on this year I have been desperate to get my bookworm-mitts on this book. I bought it a couple of days after the release date and bumped it up to the top of my tbr pile as I simply could not wait. Boy am I glad I didn’t! It was an incredible read, the first book was excellent but this was even better. Barnes’ writing is so easy to read and she introduces the case straight away; there’s no messing around!

I have had a really good reading month! I’ve surprised myself with how much I have actually managed to read, seven books may not seem a lot but the majority of these reads were quite lengthy, 300+ pages, and I have been seriously strapped for time. This month I discovered a love of Cecelia Ahern! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read any of her books but I will definitely be reading more from now on!

Books read: 7

Onyx (Lux Beginnings) by Jennifer L Armentrout.

Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern.

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3) by Richelle Mead.

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern.

Favourite book: Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern.

Least favourite book: Matilda by Roald Dahl (I loved the book but from this small selection it would be my least favourite).

This is going to be flying-visit-review I’m afraid. I’m strapped for time but I really want to post my review about this book.

Love, Rosie.

By Cecelia Ahern.

Pages: 558.

Rating: 4.5 /5.

From the back cover:

“Best friends since forever, Rosie and Alex have shared their hopes, dreams – and firsts. But one awkward moment at eighteen, one missed opportunity, and life sends them hurtling in different directions. Although they stay in touch, misunderstandings, circumstances and sheer bad luck seem to be conspiring to keep them apart. Can they gamble everything – even their friendship – on true love?”

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From the first page I was sucked into the story of Rosie and Alex, from their first letters to one another as children, to their not-so-private instant messages at secondary school and their emails to one another from opposite sides of the globe. For Rosie and Alex there is obstacle after obstacle which prevents them from being together, as the reader I found myself shouting (in my head, I’m not a total crazy person) at them to just confess their love for one another already. It was frustrating, heart-wrenching and so moving; I couldn’t put it down.

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren’t made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife?

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I am not going to do a brief summary of Gone Girl as I do not think that I could without giving away some spoilers or at least clues to possible spoilers.

Just a quickie from me for Top Ten Tuesday this week, didn’t want to miss it. It’s time to name those books that were hard to read due to the subject matter, hard-to-read, too cringe worthy etc.

Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Me To Read.

The End of Alice by A.M Homes– subject matter was quite disturbing.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – just difficult, all of those Russian words and names, plus it was uber long!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling – because it was the last one! Boohoo!!! I still feel the pain from that one.

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer – for the same reason as Harry Potter, I did not want the Twilight Saga to end.

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis – I found that it was largely a very boring book, so much description about their clothes etc just weird. Then the ‘action’ scenes were deeply disturbing!

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – the dialect made parts of it almost impossible to understand and I hated the characters Cathy and Heathcliffe. I also felt guilty for not liking it because it’s considered a ‘Classic’.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – very dull but again I felt guilty because it is ‘Classic’ and I’m supposed to like it.

The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman – I’m not sure why I found it so hard to get in to but I did. Reading this book was not a pleasurable experience at all.

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater – it was so cringe worthy. It was nowhere near the same high quality standard as the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira – I didn’t like the main character, she whined a lot and was not very relatable making the whole book difficult to read.

Top Ten Tuesday time again, this week it’s time to look at underrated authors in X genre. I couldn’t decide on a particular genre so I’ve just chosen ten authors. They really are wonderfully talented writers who do not get even half of the publicity, support and bookish love that they should.

I know that some of these authors are already popular, bestselling authors for certain books or series but they are so underrated in terms of their other work and I think that they should gain recognition for this work too. Read them!

“Intelligence. Integrity. Courage. Wisdom. These are the qualities a Receiver of Memory must have. And one more can only be named, but not described. The Capacity to See Beyond.

Jonas lives safely within the community, a place where there is no war, no hunger and no pain. But when he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, he starts to discover dark secrets that lie beneath the surface of his perfect world. Secrets that will lead him to undertake an incredible journey…”

A short synopsis:

Jonas is an Eleven fast-approaching the ceremony day in December when he will become a Twelve and when he will receive his Assignment. Jonas is not sure what Assignment he will be given nor which he would like. One thing is for certain and that is that Receiver of Memory was not an Assignment that crossed his mind, nor that of his parents.